All USSF D-II Matches Will Be Available Online, TV & Website News

Kartik Krishnayer, NASL's Director of Communications and Public Relations, was kind enough to spend a few minutes with us today to discuss developments concerning online streaming, TV broadcast and the NASL website.

Good news for fans of 2nd Division soccer in the United States. Every USSD2 match will be available via online stream for free. The system will be similar to USLLive.com last season and will controlled by the US Soccer Federation. An announcement is expected next week as the USSF is currently working to finalize a media partner and to secure advertisers to help offset cost.

There will be no national TV contract for the league this season. While the NASL is actively pursuing possible deals for 2011, TV coverage will be limited to local contracts that individual clubs are able to secure. As of today, Rochester, Tampa Bay, Montreal and Vancouver all have local broadcast contracts in place. St. Louis and Minnesota are said to be close to deals, with the picture a little less clear for Carolina and Miami. Part of the TV deals will allow visiting teams to utilize the home team's local TV feed for broadcast back in their home market. For example, if Rochester travels to Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay TV broadcast will be available for airing in Rochester.

Finally, the full NASL.com website will launch the week of April 10th, the same week the season begins. The site will feature original articles and content, rosters, player bios, and audio/video content. The plan is to cover not only the league but soccer new from around the globe as well.

USSF Division 2 will be using the Nike Total 90 Ascente balls. This is the same ball that is used in the English Premier League except with a different color scheme.

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Palace Baltimore Signs Two More Players

Official Press Release

TWO MORE ADDED TO PALACE BALTIMORE ROSTER
Yaikel Perez and Kenold Versailles Bring Further D2 Experience

March 9th 2010 - Baltimore, MD - Crystal Palace Baltimore have made a double signing as they prepare for the upcoming season. Forward Yaikel Perez joins from Sevilla Bayamon FC of the Puerto Rico 1st Division, while Haitian midfielder Kenold Versailles arrives in Baltimore after spending last season at Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Palace Baltimore Founder and Co-Head Coach, Jim Cherneski, spoke about Perez: "We had Perez come to us during the fall at the very end of our training last year and he showed very well when he was with us. We are pleased to have him; he is a good physical presence and has got good pace. He finishes really well and we expect him to score some goals this year. He is very active, always chasing balls down and winning tackles in our attacking third. He’s very skillful as well; he can strike the ball well with both feet. We’re excited to have him."

Perez, 25, has spent the past two years playing in the Puerto Rico top flight and won the League Championship in 2008 with Sevilla Bayamon FC, who are the affiliate club of Spanish top flight club Sevilla FC. Perez was also part of the Cuban National team that participated in the 2005 Gold Cup and was one of several players who defected to the United States during the competition. In addition, the clinical goal scorer has Second Division experience after spending the 2006 season with fellow NASL and USSF D2 side Miami FC.

Baltimore assistant coach Todd Wawrousek commented on Versailles: "We were fortunate to have the experience of Kenny at Vancouver but unfortunately for him he was injured for the majority of the season. He is a very composed and versatile player and has the ability to play with confidence both in central midfield and centrally in defense. We feel fortunate to have him as part of our club and hopefully he will have a successful year and be a very productive player for us."

Versailles (pronounced vur-SIGH), 25, joins Palace after spending last season with another NASL and USSF D2 club, Vancouver Whitecaps FC. The central midfielder made a total of eight appearances and scored one goal for the Canadian outfit. Prior to arriving in the U.S., Versailles played six years, 2002-2007, in Haiti's top divison. He spent four years at Racing Club Haitien where he was part of the League-winning team in 2002, followed by two years starring for Roulado. Versailles, 6’2", has represented Haiti at international level, beginning at U-17 in 1999. He was also a member of the U-23 Olympic squad in 2004 before gaining five caps for the full Haitian national team.

Palace Baltimore continue their pre-season preparations with a friendly at Baltimore’s Loyola University tomorrow, Wednesday March 10 at 7:00pm. The match will be the first at the school’s new Ridley Stadium and will also serve as a fundraiser for Haiti earthquake relief charities.

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Editorial: USL Has Missed the Point, Hopefully USSF Is Paying Attention

If you really need a reason why the current USSF Division-2 Pro League should be nothing more than a one year experiment, look no further than the USL's decision to place an expansion team in Orlando. For years the USL has, for lack of a better term, recklessly allowed individuals and groups to start franchises that were essentially doomed to fail. Teams were formed that allowed USL to retain it's second division sanctioning from USSF and to collect an expansion fee. Teams were placed that directly infringed on the markets of other clubs, see Real Maryland/Crystal Palace Baltimore. The USL's reckless approach to expansion hurt the league's credibility and clearly angered owners and ownership groups that were legitimately committed to the success of the league and the sport of soccer.

So imagine our surprise when it came out that Steve Donner will be the owner of the new USL franchise in Orlando. Donner is a man whose name is basically a curse word in Rochester and according to sources, he's a man carrying substantial debt to USSF, USL and other groups. He left the Rochester Rhinos organization bankrupt after 2007, leaving a mess that new owner Robert Clark has been working to clean up over the past two years.

USL is in our opinion sending a rather bad message by allowing a man who bankrupted a franchise take the reins of yet another club. Donner of course has every right to keep trying to be involved in soccer and while this is not a personal attack on him, we can't help but question the intelligence of him being involved in another USL franchise. That said, what really interest us about his involvement in Orlando is what it says about USL's commitment to running or being a part of a sanctioned second division of American soccer.

We here at NASLNews are fairly confident in saying that this policy of franchise addition, compounded with the bad habit by USL of not doing proper due diligence investigation of new owners, was a major cause of the NASL/USL break we witnessed during the winter. In fact, much of the frustration we had with USSF and their handling of the Division 2 split was their apparent blatant ignorance of USL's questionable business practices when it comes to expansion and how their member clubs operate. This is not a new trend or a one time occurrence. USL has been doing this for years and individuals like Steve Donner have been involved with running USL clubs that could best be described as a "members in bad standing" but more deservedly should be labeled as financially irresponsible companies.

You might expect an organization to learn a lesson when multiple franchises break away over fundamental concerns about how you run your soccer league. Ideally you would expect USL to step back and reasses their busienss practices and try fix the problems. Instead, in allowing Steve Donner to be involved in a new expansion franchise, USL is sending the clear message that they feel there are no issues with their practices and it's business as usual. The USL's lackadaisical attitude toward club owners is disrespectful to the game and should not be tolerated by USSF.

USSF's primary goal should be the support the maturation of the sport of soccer at all levels in the United States. By allowing USL to prevent a clean break by the NASL clubs and remain a part of this shambolic USSFD2 should cause fans to seriously question what the motives of US Soccer really are. Are they simply ignorant of the situation or have they chosen to ignore the facts in favor of pandering to interested parties?

Does anyone believe that the NASL, a league that exist largely because of its member's frustration with USL's business practices, won't bring this topic to the table when sanctioning for 2011 is discussed later this year? It's issues like this that led to the breakaway and it's issues like this that should clearly lead USSF to sanction the NASL as the second division league in 2011.

If the USSF is serious about sanctioning second division soccer in this country, fans everywhere better hope they are actually paying attention. The NASL has made it clear they are committed to running a financially stable and viable league, something that fans of second division soccer here in the states both deserve and should be demanding.

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Mathew Mbuta Returns to Crystal Palace Baltimore

Official Press Release

MBUTA RETURNS TO CRYSTAL PALACE BALTIMORE
Fan Favorite Spent Past 18 Months With New York Red Bulls

March 2nd 2010 - Baltimore, MD - Crystal Palace Baltimore have signed 24-year old playmaker Mathew Mbuta, pending USSF approval. The former New York Red Bulls player returns to Palace after plying his trade in Major League Soccer for the past year and a half.

Palace Baltimore President and Co-Head Coach, Pete Medd, remarked: "We feel very fortunate to get Mathew back. He is a very special player and has unique and dangerous qualities; things you can not teach. He has tremendous pace and a great leaping ability. During the 18 months he spent in the MLS, he has refined his game even further and we will continue to work on his end product; but we feel he should have a major impact in our league this year"

Medd went on to say: ''It is great to have Mathew back in the club house. He is a great personality to have around and the joy with which he plays the game rubs off on other players. He is extremely hungry to prove he is one of the top players in the U.S. second division."

Mbuta joined the New York club in September 2008 and scored only four minutes into his debut in a 5-4 defeat to the Colorado Rapids. The speedy winger went on to make a total of 12 appearances and scored three goals. He will go down in Red Bulls history as the last ever goal scorer at Giants Stadium before their move to Red Bull Arena.

The former Cameroon Under-23 international came to the United States in 2007 after playing in the Malaysian Super League for Brunei DPMM. Following an impressive season in Malaysia, Mbuta, 5' 9", had trials at Arsenal and West Ham United of the English Premier League before signing for Crystal Palace Baltimore in 2007. In his first season he was named to the USL-2 All-League First-Team after scoring five goals and recording seven assists in 16 games. In his second season in Baltimore, he was named to the USL-2 All-League Second Team and was instrumental in Palace's historic upset of the Red Bulls in the fifth round of the US Open Cup, a performance that prompted the MLS outfit to pay a rare transfer fee to secure his services.

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Nic Platter Signs With Carolina

Official Press Release

RailHawks sign GK Platter
Platter has spent the last five seasons with Minnesota

CARY, N.C. (March 1, 2025) - The Carolina RailHawks today announced the signing of goalkeeper Nic Platter.

“It was just a fantastic opportunity to come to the RailHawks,” Platter said. “I’m coming to a great organization with a very good coach, and it’s a good opportunity for me to get better as a goalkeeper. I want to win a championship, and I think this organization has shown it’s dedicated to doing that.”

Platter comes to the RailHawks after five seasons with the Minnesota Thunder. Upon becoming the No. 1 goalkeeper in 2008, Platter played 58 of the Thunder’s 60 games over the next two seasons. In 2008, he backstopped the Thunder to the USL First Division playoffs with 107 saves and seven shutouts. In 2009, he ranked second among USL-1 goalkeepers in minutes played (2,520) and third in saves (115), and he had six shutouts. During his five seasons with the Thunder, Platter appeared in 83 matches, with 18 shutouts and a 1.36 goals against average.

Platter played collegiately at the University of California-Davis, where he still holds school records for career shutouts (17) and saves (195) and his 1.01 goals against average rates third all-time.

“Over the last couple seasons, I feel like Nic’s one of the better keepers in our league,” said Carolina coach Martin Rennie. “At times, he kept Minnesota in games. He’s been put under a lot of pressure, so he’s a guy who’s got a lot of experience in the league. He’s a good athlete, and someone we hopefully will help improve. He’s going to help us. Now we have another quality goalkeeper to push Eric Reed, and we feel like we’ve got two guys who are going to be competing really hard.”

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Miami FC to Play at Lockhart Stadium in 2010

Official Press Release

Miami FC Announces its Home for 2010 Season
The Blues confirm Lockhart Stadium

MIAMI, February 28, 2025 - After splitting its home games between Lockhart Stadium and FIU's stadium in 2009, Miami FC announced today that Lockhart Stadium will be the Blues’ home venue for 2010.

“There have been many great memories at Lockhart Stadium over the years, and we are looking forward to giving fans new memories this season, adding to Lockhart’s great legacy for soccer,” said Miami FC president Aaron Davidson. “Since Lockhart is still considered one of the best facilities for soccer in the United States, we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to play there. After playing at two stadiums last season in order to give fans the opportunity to see Miami FC play closer to their respective homes, we now feel it is best and most effective to establish one home stadium for the team, the fans and the community.”

Lockhart Stadium, built in 1959, has a capacity of 18,500 seats and is regarded as the oldest soccer-specific stadium in North America. The facility has deep roots within the South Florida soccer community, having served as the home venue for several teams including, most notably, the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers of the former North American Soccer League (NASL) and the now-defunct Miami Fusion of Major League Soccer (MLS). The site has also hosted countless international matches, including the United States historic victory over Mexico during the 1980 World Cup qualifying campaign which was their first win over Mexico since 1934.

“We are excited to have professional soccer at Lockhart Stadium for another year. It’s not only something positive for the community but for the students as well,” said Director of Athletics and Activities of Broward County Public Schools (Operator of Lockhart Stadium), Damian Huttenhoff.

Located west of I-95 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the facility is easily accessible to fans across South Florida.

Miami FC will open the 2010 season on April 10 at 7:30PM at Lockhart Stadium against the visiting Rochester Rhinos.

Miami FC will officially announce ticket sales information tomorrow. For more information, visit www.miamifc.com.

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